Azure VM Management Software

Azure VM management software is an application that helps organizations using Virtual Machines (VMs) on Microsoft´s Azure platform reduce cloud compute costs. The software for managing VMs on Azure provides a single dashboard view of multiple accounts, VM types and pricing options, so that organizations can manage their accounts with improved efficiency.

Due to the single dashboard view and the versatility of Azure VM management software, organizations can maintain governance over their Azure accounts and create permission tiers for team members. The permission tiers allow team members to start and stop their own VMs without being able to interfere with other teams´ schedules – thus increasing team structure and accountability.

How Organizations Can Reduce Cloud Compute Costs

Undoubtedly there are significant advantages of cloud computing. Organizations involved in developing, testing, and staging save considerably by hosting their applications in the cloud. However, there is still a price to pay for the services provided by Microsoft. Furthermore, regardless of the number of VMs hosted in the cloud, and the Azure options subscribed to, there will likely still be resource waste.

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One of the ways in which organizations can reduce cloud compute costs is to instruct team members to manually shut down non-production VMs. This strategy relies on team members remembering to shut down the right VMs, and to shut them down from with the Azure portal rather than from within the VM – a course of action that will result in Azure compute resources still being assigned to the VM.

Although it is possible to develop scheduling scripts to switch off non-production VMs when they are idle, the resources required to develop the scripts may eliminate the benefit of implementing them. Scheduling scripts also fail to deliver the other benefits of Azure VM management software and the risk exists that, during scheduled idle periods, Microsoft could reassign the organization´s IP address.

Alternatively, organizations can reduce cloud compute costs by subscribing to a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA). This option is available to organizations with 500 or more users who can commit to a three-year contract. As beneficial as EAs may appear, organizations that later require less capacity for their VMs do not have the opportunity to reduce the level of service they receive. Consequently, rather than reduce compute costs, an organization´s costs could increase over the life of the contract.

How Software for Managing VMs on Azure Reduces Costs

Azure VM management software eliminates the risk that non-production VMs will be left running overnight, that the development of scheduling scripts will be counter-productive, and that a decrease in capacity requirements could leave an organization locked into an expensive contract. It does this by automating the scheduling process to temporarily stop non-production VMs during idle periods.

In order to determine which VMs are suitable for “parking”, network administrators log into their Microsoft account through the application. The software for managing VMs on Azure conducts a discovery to identify the VMs running across all accounts, regions, and pricing options, and recommends which non-production VMs are suitable for parking according to their names and tags.

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Once the recommendations are accepted – or adjusted as necessary – the UI displays a grid indicating days of the week and times of the day. Users simply have to click on the days and times during which the selected VMs will be idle and set the schedule. If a VM is required during a scheduled idle period, the schedule for individual VMs can be “snoozed” so that they are ready to use.

After the schedule has been set, the Azure VM management software displays a figure indicating the projected savings. As soon as the schedule is running – i.e. as soon as the non-production VMs are parked – actual savings will be displayed. An organization that parks its non-production VMs between 6:00pm and 8:00am on weekdays and throughout the weekend will typically reduce cloud compute costs by more than 70%.

Try Azure VM Management Software for Free

ParkMyCloud´s Azure VM management software ensures that organizations only pay for the compute power they use. Our lightweight, yet versatile SaaS application makes it possible to stop every non-production VM by default and snooze the schedule to start the VMs whenever they are required. This feature of our software for managing VMs on Azure helps organizations reduce cloud compute costs to the minimum possible.

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While parked, the VMs are inaccessible. This enhances data security and prevents unauthorized access. It also eliminates the necessity for the parked VMs to be monitored by network security personnel or for unnecessary virus scans. These benefits were among the reasons why one of our satisfied clients commented: “There is literally no reason not to use ParkMyCloud”, and now we invite you to try our Azure VM management software for free.

Our offer consists of a fully-enabled application, with full access and full control over your Azure VMs. There are no set up costs to start your thirty-day free trial and no credit card required. Once your free trial of ParkMyCloud comes to a close, there is no obligation to continue with our Azure VM management software, and – best of all – any money you save on your cloud compute costs during the free trial period is yours to keep.

For more information about our Azure VM management software and our free trial offer, do not hesitate to contact us today.